CHOOSEY LOVER
by Life-destiny
Summary: There is only a fine line between love and hate. 3 guys, 3 love, all trying to break the barrier between her and them. When her grandfather arives, they must work together, rivals or not, before the entire story ends and she gone. FemRyo. Pairing unknown.
1. Chapter 1: The beginning

_**CHOOSEY LOVER**_

_Love is a temporary madness that erupts like an earthquake._

_-St. Augustine_

Okay, before you guys kill me for this change in the chapters, I must say first that I haven't update the fourth chapter, very sorry, but what I only did was to combine the first 3 chapters into one. So if you have read the first three chapters, there is no need for you to continue reading this chapter now. Sorry for the misunderstanding. For the reasons you can check my profile, which I updated to give more information regarding this story, as well as a new poll I put up for you to do. Once again, I apologize for any misunderstanding, but I'll update the next chapter by this Sunday, and I promise that it is a long long chapter for your liking. Thankyou!

~CHAPTER 1~

The sunlight penetrated through the thick lush leaves of the tree top, hitting the face of the slumbering teenager under the tree. Echizen Ryoma, slightly awakened by the sunlight, groaned as her eyes fluttered open to come in direct contact with the sunlight. It was only seven in the morning, and yet the first rays of sunlight of the day prevented her from going back into her slumber. She rolled and sat up slowly after a few minutes, her eyes still adjusting to the light as she leaned back down on the tree.

Seven in the morning and she was already in school, which would only start at eight, all thanks to her irresponsible father who had messed up her time table and kicked her out of the house at six thirty.

She brushed herself as she stood up, pulled her cap over her eyes and started walking briskly around the school. Since she had a lot of time ahead of her, she might as well make full use of it to explore this school campus, which was all foreign to her. Yes, it was her first day at school, and the school committee had actually offered to take her around the campus, but she had reclined, stating that she would explore the campus herself.

She was not exactly a sociable person. She was infact, quite unsociable. It was a great irony with her looks and tennis skills, which could only command more attention to herself. Big alluring dark golden eyes set in a face that seemed to be made of porcelain, accompanied by a lean, slim figure with slender curves, one could say that she could be considered as a classical beauty. Add that with great tennis skills that can rival even male players, she was commanding more attention to herself that she ever wanted. She pursed her lips as she recalled what happened in America, where she turned 'famous' in her school overnight when she defeated the captain of the male tennis team. It had brought nothing but trouble afterwards. The fanclub of the male tennis team got together to bully her, with tricks and bullying methods of a six year old kid, in her opinion.

So after two months of constant bullying, she decided that she had had enough of those childish, immature pranks which amused her greatly innitially but later brought about more irritation. Changing school proved to be the more efficient method, and given that her than had wanted to return to Japan, she might as well enrol in a school in Japan directly. Which was why she ended up in Rikkai Junior High School.

Just how big was this school? She had been walking for ten minutes, but was still lost in the maze of paths and junctions. It was only after a while did she finally see something familiar- the tennis courts. No, she had never been here even once, thanks to her father, who deemed such prior visits very much unneccessary. But then again, tennis courts looked just about the same anywhere, anytime. The sight of the tennis courts brought about much comfort and familiarity to her.

Walking closer, she spotted several people playing tennis in the courts. She smirked as she watched a guy, probably her senior, attempt to do a smash in vain. The jump wasn't powerful enough, the angle of contact between the racket and the ball was totally off, so instead of sailing right onto the ground, it ended up as a high lob as the ball sailed beyond the fence surrounding the court and landed near her.

It was instinctive for her grab the oncoming ball bouncing towards her at high speed. Waiting for the ball to come closer, her left hand was a blur as she suddenly grabbed the ball in midair and with a powerful flick of her wrist, sent the ball flying back into the courts.

All this was dutily noted by Renji Yanagi, who was here to check on the morning practices before the Rikkai regulars came. Being Renji, he quickly calculate the strength needed to flick the ball across the net was found out that whoever the girl was, she had great wrist power. She would be a great plus for the Rikkai male tennis team, if not for her gender.

She lingered around the tennis courts, trying to see if there were any tennis players that very around her level, but so far, all she had encountered were just clumsy, and obviously non-competitive players. She shrugged in disappointment as she contemplated her next step. Should she continue her pointless tour around the campus, or would she rather stay around the tennis courts? It wasn't a difficult choice, given her love for tennis, but on the other hand she had left her tennis rackets at home, and the players here, in her opinion, were pretty bad.

She paused before making her way into the tennis court, instantly catching the attention of the many males around her. She cursed inwardly. How could she have forgotten that a female walking into a nest of males would creat much trouble. Gosh.

Stopping by the door, she stood there quietly, hoping that the guys would just ignore her existance and go back to playing tennis. Fat hope, she noted dryly as a male approached her seconds later.

"Hello, are you looking for someone? I can help you around." The over helpful stranger stood before her and smiled.

"…" This was a complete nuisance. "No need. I'm here to watch you guys play."

"Really? We're very honoured. Why don't you sit down and watch us play then. We are quite professional."

Alright, this guy was not only over helpful, he was a total show off. There would be no way they could play at professional level. If they were professional, who would she be? She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, sit down and cheer for us" He grinned as he turned around to address the entire nest of males. "Hey everyone, she's here to cheer us on as a fan because we played quite professionally!"

That was the last straw. She could almost hear her own mind went 'snap!' as she saw red. She detested complacency and she detested being treated as one of those crazy, rabid fangirls even more. Her eyes turned to a darker shade of yellow as she fumed.

"Professionally?" She smirked, "Don't even joke with me."

Before they could even retort or protest, she launched into a series of cursings and moking. "Stop treating me like some of those crazy fangirls, and even if I am one of them, I wouldn't exactly fangirl over the likes off you. Do you even know your own standards? Don't joke around. You guys being professional? What I saw was just some tennis player that couldn't even do a smash. Right, really professional." Her voice dripped with sacarsm towards the end. And no, she wasn't finished. Glaring at the wide mouth guys around her, she smirked and continued, "So, this is the standard of Rikkai tennis team? I'm disappointed. I thought the standard would be high enough here to at least challenge me."

Pleased with reactions of the guys before her, she smirked, only to have it turned into a horrified expression at what she had done. Did she just insulted the entire tennis team? Well, they deserved it anyway, but that would be declaring war with the tennis clud fangirls. She groaned. She had had enough of those fangirls.

It was when she was torn between what to do when she heard soft laughter behind her. An ominous feeling came over her as she willed herself to turn around. Behind her stood the entire Rikkai tennis club regular team.

"Well said…" A beautiful looking male smiled as he stared gently at her, while the rest of the team were doing their best to hold in their laughter, except for the scary looking male beside the beautiful boy.

She frowned. If she was not wrong, they were also part of the tennis team right? Were they not insulted?

"It's the truth. They are bad." She muttered, as the slightest of regret came over her. Somehow gut feeling told her that this group of tennis players, this special group, were above the rest in terms of sheer command and power.

The rest of the team only burst out into uncontrolled laughter as they stared in disbelieve at the female who insulted the entire Rikkai tennis team. With the cap hiding and shading her eyes, they could not make out her face, which was a relief to herself. At least she could get away unknown. And safe.

She squirmed uncomfortably under the gaze of the beautiful boy, who was staring at her in much amusement from head to toe. "Will you quit staring at me?"

"I heard you saying something about challenging yourself with tennis." He graced her with that smile again, and her heart suddenly throbbed. She opened her eyes in shock at that foreign feeling, it felt… heart warming somehow.

Seeing her stiffen, the beautiful boy stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder lightly. "You alright?"

Coming back to her senses, she quickly dismissed the weird feeling she had just now, crediting it to her waking up too early. Looking at the boy and suddenly being extremely conscious of his hand resting on her shoulder, she shrugged. "What were you talking about just now?"

"As I was saying," he removed his hand from her shoulder smoothly, "I wonder if I am good enough for that offer."

"What offer?" She stared at him.

"The offer to challenge you." He smiled. "Am I not good enough? I'm Seiichi Yukimura, captain of the Rikkai tennis team. May I have the honour of your name?"

The other Rikkai regulars stared in wonder as they watched their captain subtly flirting with the unknown female. Their captain, who was usually only interested in tennis and nothing else was flirting with a female?

"Ryoma Echizen." She paused, wondering if she should take up the challenge. "As for the challenge, another day then." She glanced at her watch, only to realise that she was going to be late with her meeting with the teacher. "Well, I'm late now. Find you another day for the challenge."

She slipped off and head towards the main school building, doing a shortcut as she flip over a lower fence across the football field between the building and tennis courts.

Yukimura stared at her disapperaing figure until she went into the school building before turning back around to address the entire tennis team.

"What she said, about you guys bragging, was it true?" Still mantaining the smile, he asked, with his voice a notch colder than before. The non-regulars glupped as they looked at their smiling captain.

"Well then, we should not brag about ourselves, should we?"

"No~" The entire tennis team chorused.

"Alright, go back to practice." Yukimura dismissed them as he turned back to the regulars.

"Yukimura, were you flirting with that girl?" Sanada asked.

"Flirting? No, what makes you think that?" Yukimura pursed his lips, "But she is a very interesting girl, is she not?"

"Anyone who can stand up to the Rikkai tennis team is interesting." Yanagi managed to mutter, and he proceeded to tell them what he saw earlier on.

"As I said, she is very interesting indeed. Very very interesting." Yukimura mumbled, adressing Yanagi, "You're the president of the sstudent council right?"

"Yes, captain." Yanagi shot Yukimura a glance, and understood what he was going to ask, "Yes, I will be bringing her around the main building during lunch."

"Would it be troublesome if I were to join you?"

The rest of the regulars stared at him in half shock, half horror. Was their captain today having a fever or something?

"…" Yanagi shrugged as he opened his databook. "I guess you can tag along."

*******************

Her eyes twitched as she stepped into the general office, seeing a crowd of teachers peering out of their respectives office, boring holes in her body. She felt as though she was a specimen in the laboratory, being dissected and examined closely. The admin staff stood up from her counter and addressed her.

"Welcome. I presume that you must be Echizen Ryoma?" She smiled as she held out her hand towards Ryoma.

"Yes." Ryoma muttered, taking the hand and shaking it.

"Alright. Here is your timetable, a map of this main building, as well as your expanses card. Later during lunch, the president of the student council will show you around here and the school compound." The admin stated as she passed over a stack of papers, accompanied by a silver card that resembled a credit card. Ryoma looked at the card in distress and confusion. How was she suppose to use the card? What was the card for? But the questions had yet to leave her mouth before she was hushed out of the office with a push from the admin.

Behind her, she could here the whispers of the teachers as she strode out. Making them out to be useless and meaningless gossip which had the content of something to do with her family, she ignored them and using the map, located her first lesson venue. It was Mathematics.

She inwardly groaned. Maths was not one of her favoured subjects, and as she made her way to the lecture room she could feel the stares of the people behind her, and the constant muttering of her name. She frowned as she wonder how almost the entire population of the school knew her name when it was just the first day of school here.

It only got worst in the lecture room, as her Maths teacher forced her to do a self introduction against her own will before she could quietly sit down and erase her own presense. Her introduction only included only seven words. "My name is Echizen Ryoma. That's all." The edges of her mouth curved upwards slightly as she saw the astonished looks on both the teacher's the students' faces before settling down on a sit at the far corner of the room.

When the bell finally rang, a string of curses were going through her mind as she made a mental note to butcher her Maths teacher in her sleep. Throughout the entire lesson, he had apparently tried to make the name he just learnt to full use by callig her repeatedly to answer all his questions. If she had disliked Maths before, she was absolutely loathing it right now.

And who in the right mind would put two sessions of Maths together? She fumed as she tried to figure out where the canteen was, before finally realising that she had a prior meeting with the president of the student council right now. It only added fuel on her fire as she made her way to the front of the general office to meet him, no emotions showing on her passive face, but everyone passing by her could feel heat emitting from her.

No one was in sight when she reached there, so she proceed to try buying a can of Ponta from the vending machine nearby in vain. The vending machine did not seem to have anywhere to insert coins, only a thin slot was available. She frowned in fustration as she examined the vending machine, trying to stuff her coins into the slot which was too thin.

"You don't use coins for this." A familiar voice rang from behind her as the beautiful boy from before appeared once again in front of her view. He took he hands off the vending machine before sloting a silver card that resembled hers into the slot. "You use your card like this. What do you want?"

"Ponta." She muttered as she watch the long slender fingers of the boy trailed down the options before pressing on the buttton for the Ponta drink, as well as another button for Pokka Green Tea. His hands then reached out for the cans that rolled down upon order and handed one over to her.

"Here. You have a card, don't you?" He graced her with that smile of his again as she reached out tentatively to take the can of Ponta.

"Yes…" She searched through her mind for his name, which had been mentioned before. "… Yukimura Seiichi"

"You've remembered my name." He smiled in amusement as he stared into her dark golden eyes, momentarily entranced by the depth of it.

"… Should I not?" She asked out loud, apparently baffled with his amusement. "And, what was that card about?"

"Do you have one?" Yukimura widened his eyes in surprise as she produce one that was similar to his card. "Our school uses the card as cash, so you buy things with it. You'll have to top up your card with money regularly."

"So… this is a credit card?" She pursed her lips as she asked, the look of initial surprised on his face had not pass on her.

"You can assume it as that. And I'm surprised that you have a silver card. No wonder the entire school knows of you." Smiling, he opened his can and took a drink, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he read the look of utter displeasure on her face.

"The whole school knows me?" She clicked her tongue in displeasure. "What does that have to do with the card?"

"The colour of the card represents your status in the school." Another foreign voice interrupted. She whipped around to look at the person who had just approached them, and recognised him as one of the tennis regulars.

"I'm Renji Yanagi, president of the Rikkai student council. Nice to meet you." He introduced, not missing the chance to take a glance at Yukimura, who was half glaring and half smiling at him at the same time. While his mouth remained in the position of a smile, his eyes showed displeasure with the interruption. Yanagi almost smiled, thinking how rare it was for their captain to actually even show any anger.

He strode up beside her and shook her hands, before elaborating on his point. "In our school there are three different card colours, mainly blue, red and silver. Blue cards are cards given to regular students, red cards to students who hold certain positions in either their sport committees or in the student council, and silver cards are only given to special students. So in terms of ranking, students with the silver cards are higher than those with red cards, which in turn are higher than those with blue cards. Teachers hold gold cards, which is essentially different from us."

Ryoma took another gulp of Ponta as she tried to comprehend what Yanagi was talking about. "So…?"

Yanagi looked at her in amusement as he shrugged. "Well, in our school, there are only 5 students with the silver card, including you. Yukimura and I are one of the silver card holders. As for why you are so well known, it must be credited to the fact that silver cards are only given to selected students that have shown great talents in both academic and sports. In essence, people who are certified all rounders. I'll explain more next time. Now, I have about 24 minutes to bring you around this campus… Yukimura, are you considering to tag along?"

Ryoma watched as Yukimura shot Yanagi a look that looked threatening and sweet at the same time and secretly smiled to herself. Those guys were interesting, alright.

After the tour around the campus, Yanagi promtly dismissed himself, leaving her and Yukimura for another 11 minutes alone, as kindly calculated and noted by Yanagi.

"You want to eat something?" Yukimura turned to face her, and noting the growling sounds from her stomach, asked.

"No thanks. I'll eat something later. Don't you need to go back for class?" Ryoma dismissed his offer with a wave of her hand. To be trueful, she could not really make out what the motive of this 'Yukimura' was. He was certainly not flirting with her, well at least not so obviously, but she could feel that he did had some kind of attraction towards her. This totally baffled her, and she decided that it would be better if he just left her alone, instead of doing things that confused her to no end.

"Are you dismissing me?" The ends of his lips curled upwards as he considered what she was saying.

"Well, yes." She replied without any hesitation.

Yukimura was apparantly not hurt by what she was saying, or if he did, he did not show it on his face. His smile remained. "May I ask why?"

"Tell me something, do you like me?" She asked out loud, only to realise that he might misinterprete her, so she hurriedly added, "Oh well, nevermind. Let me get this straight first. I do not feel any chemical romance towards you, so if you like me then please leave me alone."

Yukimura opened his eyes slightly with surprise upon hearing what she said. He seemed to consider what she was saying for a moment, before licking his lips and gave her the familiar smile again. "Well, I do like you, but in the way of… how do I explain? Possibly a cat's love towards its toy mouse?" He answered, biting back his laugh to look at her expression.

A flicker of amusement flashed within her eyes as she contemplated his interesting and unique answer. Finally, she nodded. "I like you too, just like the feelings of my Maths teacher towards me."

"Your Maths teacher habours feeling towards you?"

"Certainly, given that he has been torturing me for the past few hours, I'm pretty certain that he likes me a lot." She smirked.

"I take it that you don't return his feelings?" Yukimura enquired in interest.

"I will, when he's dead." Another smirk.

"Well then, so we'll agree that between you and me, there's a liking and mutual attraction that closely resembles the attraction between predator and prey?" Yukimura pushed, confirming his interesting relationship with her.

"Certainly." She agreed, even though it was a weird way of describing it.

Yukimura almost smirked as he turned away to go back to his class, not forgetting to address her one last time just to see her reaction. "See you soon, my prey."

She answered him with another of her famous smirks and waved him off, heading in the opposite direction to her class.

"Sorry mister, I think you are the prey."

"We'll see, between you and me, who's the real predator." Behind her, Yukimura muttered softly as he hummed a tune.

Things were just getting interesting.

* * *

When her first day of school had finally been over, she heaved a sigh of relief as she strode along the pathways to the main gate of Rikkai. It was stupid and unlike her to have left her tennis rackets, and right now she was trying to get home as fast as she probably could to get to her rackets and play a game. Just as she was about to step one step out of the school, her phone started vibrating. She fished out her phone with much annoyance, only to have her annoyance dissolved into joy as she took in the caller ID.

"Hello, Ryoma here. Kun, how are you?" She smiled as she heard the voice at the other end of the phone.

"Ryo, is it true that you enrolled in Rikkai?"

"… Yes, I did. But I don't think there's a female tennis team here." At the other end of the phone, 'he' could imagine how disappointed she was at the lack of a female tennis team. But still, her joining Rikkai was unexpected. He had expected her father to have enrolled her in his school, given their relationship, but no, that father of hers had to enroll her in the enemy's school. It was so obvious that it was on purpose. He had skipped his training for the first time ever since he joined the club, went to her house to find her after school, only to have her father telling him that she was in Rikkai in a half mocking, half pleased tone.

"Kun…?" Her voice pulled him back to the present.

"Ryo, where are you now?"

"I'm infront of Rikkai. Why?" She asked, apparantly puzzled over his question.

"You want to come to my school and join the male tennis club for training today?"

"Sure, but I don't have my rackets with me." As she answered, he stopped in his tracks, turned around and walked back towards her house once more.

"Wait for me there, I'll get your rackets and fetch you."

As Ryoma ended the call, she dumped her bag onto the ground and leaned on the walls infront of Rikkai, her skin tingling in excitement. The thought of being able to train and have matches with male tennis players excited her to no end. If she had not heard wrongly, the tennis team there was known to be really strong, and their training were known to be ruthless and tiring.

A bunch of giggling females passed by before her just as she was stretching slightly, which caused one of the females to stumble over her, and to smudge her shirt with her own lipstick. The unfortunated female shriek as she examined her shirt and sent Ryoma a deadly glare, with she returned with a nonchalant shrug. The female, being even more agitated screamed at her in fury as she charged towards her, trying to scratch her with a set of extremely polished and long fingernails. Another cat-fight, she sighed as she nimbly dogded the oncoming nails and gripped the offending hand. The female yowled in agony as she cursed Ryoma. Ryoma only tightened her grip, pulled the female towards her and positioned her lips beside her ears.

"Now, why don't you wash off the layer of _mud _on your face before anyone sees you?" Her lips curled up in a mocking smile as she pushed the female backwards into the arms of her friends.

"You…! I'm going to kill you tomorrow!" The female snarled as she touched her own face in horror, desperately wiping off anything on her face, on resulting in messing up her thick layer of make up. She glared as Ryoma even as she stormed off with her friends.

She groan as she realised the possible consequences of what she had done. As told, she was totally unsociable, and if her memories had not fail her, this entire event seemed to have happened once in America. Except the females there were obviously more violent. Considering the damage done, it was highly possible that tomorrow she would be targeted by the fellow followers of this female.

A shadow landed before her, blocking out most of the sunlight that fell on her face. She looked up, only to see a very familiar face which she had been seeing on and off throughout the entire day.

"Yukimura."

"Hello. So we meet again." Gracing her with his smile, his smile turned into a look of concern as he took in the scratch on her face. He held out his fingers and skimmed his fingertips across that offending scratch on her face, only to have her wincing with pain. "What's this?"

Ryoma reeled backwards after the initial contact and traced her own fingers across the scratch, before breaking into an amused laughter. "A scratch from a wild cat I met just now."

Yukimura took in her laughter as his face turned emotionless momentarily. He had no doubt witness the 'fight' just now, given that he had been sort of looking out for her, even though he would not admit it. Laughing didn't seemed to be a correct response for what she had been through. This girl was weird.

"What's wrong?" Ryoma, upon noting his weird expression, grinned. "It doesn't matter. She's weak, and that's why she needs to resort to such means."

"She's weak?"

"Yeah, using nails to fight, isn't it weak?" She explained, sounding so sure that even he beginned to believe her theory.

"Right." He finished lamely, but not before fishing out a plaster from one of his pocket and proceed to helping her put it on her scratch. This course of action took her by surprise, and she instinctively took one step backwards, only to stumble and lose her footing. Her body started falling to the likes of gravity, and she braced herself for the fall, as Yukimura attempted to reach out to grab her, his hand missing hers by only an inch.

And she fell into the hands of the person she was waiting for. Golden orbs met the colour of dark brown.

"Kun?!" Ryoma smiled as she regain her balance and turned around to address the male who had broken her fall.

"Ryo." The brown hair male nodded as he gripped her arms to stabalise her, ignoring Yukimura who was secretly fuming for his incompetence to catch her. He then turned his attention towards the male that had his hand on Ryoma's arms. That brown shade of hair looked impossibly familiar and when the male finally raised his head, Yukimura hissed under his breath.

"Tezuka." Yukimura called out with a tinge of coldness.

"Yukimura." The male replied with equal coldness.

"Kun, you know Yukimura?" Ryoma, sensing the tension between the two males, decided that it was time for her to step in and stop the stare down between them. Planting herself between the two guys, she faced Tezuka.

"He is our rival." Tezuka replied impassively, his eyes averting from Yukimura's glare for a fleeting moment to meet Ryoma's, before reverting back to the stare down.

"You know Tezuka?" Yukimura almost hissed at her affectionate way of calling him.

"Of course, Kun grew up with me together. Did you bring my rackets?" Ryoma answered vaguely as she focussed on Tezuka, demanding for her rackets. The eye contact between the two males was no broken as her rackets were passed over to her. Ryoma arched her eyebrows as she stared at the two males that were trying to kill each other with their stares. If she were to comment on them right now, she would have said the two of them were downright childish and immature. Pushing through in between them, she successfully broke their stare down and motioned her fingers towards a car that was parked in front of the school.

"Kun, get in the car."

"Ryo, you get in first. I'm not…"

"Get. In. The. Car." Her golden ords turned darker as her stare pierced through him, causing him to shut his half opened mouth, took one step back, and started making his way to the car, but not before throwing Yukimura a look that said that the fight was not over between them. Yukimura smirked in triumph at the thought that Ryoma had actually taken to his side and dismissed that guy. His triumph did not last long, however, when she turned her eyes full force on him.

"Childish." She retorted at his smug look.

"I'm not childish." He replied, already half affected by the force of her eyes. The eyes that had turned to a shade of yellow that closely resembled honey seemed to have a sort of force that demanded the respect and command of the people around her. His finally understood why Tezuka had, in his opinion quietly lower his tail and moved into the car at her command. He was starting to feel the full force and effect of her eyes, and known only to himself, the he right now would have possibly done anything she commanded willingly without a moment of hesitation.

Unknown to him, Ryoma was also in her own train of thoughts, as she stared into those light purple orbs to seemed to be drawing her inwards, like an endless galaxy and possibly contained more mysteries that she ever know. He was a mystery, she realised, and he was dangerous, for right now she was incapable of any thoughts, having forgotten what she wanted to say a moment ago.

A car horn jerked them out of their staring and both of them involuntarily moved backwards and broke them 'connection'.

Ryoma reeled backwards as she managed a smile. "Well then, see you tomorrow."

Giving her his famous trademark smile, he waved her off, and only after the car she was in was out of sight did he turn to leave. _Dangerous, she's definitely turning into the predator if I don't watch out. _He sighed in half amusement as he walked towards the tennis courts.

In the car, sitted beside Tezuka, a thought kept on flashing in her mind. _That was dangerous, I feel like I'm the prey for a moment._

And at the same moment, at the same time, newfound determination flared in their eyes as they refused to let the other get a better of themselves. _I'm not going to lose. Wait and see, my prey._

* * *

At the other end of the school, a furious female crouched on the ground, half shrieking and screaming into her cell phone.

"That bitch! Echizen Ryoma, how dare she humilate me like that in front of the school? And getting close to Yukimura senpai! She's looking for death! ……. What?….. What are you saying?"

Her voice suddenly toned down as she listened to what the person at the other end of the line was saying. Her lips turned upwards into a evil, menacing smile as the other finished speaking.

"So… she… Thanks." She flipped off her phone as she grinned to her fellow followers. "Hey girls, I've got some juicy news that you might want to know……"

* * *

Tezuka watched as Ryoma was engrossed in her own thoughts, until the familiar sight of his school came into his view.

"Ryo?" Tezuka waved a hand before her eyes, causing him to break her train off thoughts.

"Yes Kun? We're here already?"

"Yes. I will introduce you to the tennis team." Tezuka said as he lead her towards the tennis courts, where she could make out a group of people doing stretching as well as practicing with their rackets. She felt her heart pumping harder as she anticipated the high difficulty of the training she would soon engage in, seeing the amount of corpses there were on the grounds of the tennis courts, knowing full well that Tezuka would not lighten the load using the excuse that she was a girl. If there was anything that she hated, it would be the fact that females were look downed upon in terms of physical strength and given lightened load even without consulting one's abilities.

Everyone turned their eyes towards them as they stepped into the courts. Tezuka impassively dismissed the rest of the tennis team to continue their training, while he motioned to the regulars to gather. When the regulars, mostly of which were the corpses on the ground, finally managed to dragged themselves to gather around her and Tezuka, she was bombarded with the curious looks of all the regulars, in which she did not known even a single one of them except Tezuka.

Tezuka kindly helped her out by introducing them one by one, before finally introducing her to the rest of them.

"This is my youngest cousin, Echizen Ryoma."

* * *

I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS, even if I would very much like to.

Credits to DBSK for using their song title as my story title, as well as my sister and friends who have been bugging me to write.

Credits to my brain which came up with this story, and must I credit my hands for typing this too?

All comments are welcome.

Love,

_Life-destiny_


	2. Chapter 2: Soulmates

_**CHOOSEY LOVER**_

_There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.  
- George Sand _

~CHAPTER 2~ SOULMATES

Gasp of surprise and shock ran high within the crowd of regulars as they proceeded to rescrutinise the female infront of them.

"How come you look nothing like Tezuka?" The red-hair guy, also known to her as Kikumaru, probed as he looked from her to Tezuka and back to her again.

"My father is…" Ryoma paused akwardly, her eyes suddenly darting towards Tezuka as a sign of distress, before the later promptly stepping up to her rescue. The look she sent him only last for a split second, but none of it went unnoticed by a certain blue eye genius. His eyes flashed opened momentarily as he noted her weird and choppy response towards that question.

"We look different. Is there a problem?" Tezuka chortled, glaring at the regulars for asking such a question. If not for his intimidating aura, the regulars would have nodded their heads in response to his question, but each of them willed themselves to control the urge.

Tezuka then nodded to Inui for him to continue his vigorous training, while he sent Ryoma to change into suitable attire before joining them in their exercise.

30 minutes later…

Ryoma sank herself into the ground as her legs failed to carry her any longer, while she shuddered in fear at the sight of most of the tennis regulars, who were foaming at their mouth due to them drinking some weird blue concoction that sizzled and bubbled in their containers. If not for Tezuka setting down the rule that she was not to be ever given the concoction to drink, she would have suffered the similar fate of all those around her. However, the concoction seemed to have failed at it's ability towards a certain person, she noted with surprise and awe, as Fuji nimbly walked through the clumps of foaming corpses, advoiding any contact with them and coming towards her. Even her cousin seemed to have turned entirely into stone, and had been in the position since 5 minutes ago. She could not help but see the surviving male in a new light, given that he was not affected by the vile disgusting glop of drink.

He settled beside her, his eyes scanning her as he let out a chuckle at her intensive stare on him. The chuckle broke her train of thoughts, and realising that she had been staring at him quite rudely, she shifted her eyes to her feet as words came out from her lips.

"Why are you still alive?" She grimaced at the stupidity of her question, but it was the only one to come to her mind in the moment.

"Saa… My body is immune to many things." He answer amusingly, as he lowered himself into laying on the ground on his back.

"Including weird blue concoctions?" She could not help but to tease jokingly.

"Most definitely." He prompted as he propped himself up with his elbows, turning his full stare towards her once more.

"…What?" Ryoma, finding his stare oddly comforting, pulled her legs towards her as she addressed the male.

"I know who you are." He promptly answered, as he shrugged and looked away from her for a moment. At his reply, Ryoma's body stiffened visibly, panic flowed through her veins, and she pulled her legs even tighter around her, as though using them to shield herself from him.

"Who?" She whispered almost inaudibly, as though afraid of his answer.

"Ryoma Echizen, daughter of Nanjiro Echizen, who is the son of Kazuhiro Echizen, who is currently the boss of the Echizen Company, and is one of the richest person in Japan. I also know that your father was disowned by him when he decided to marry your mother and play tennis instead of taking over the company." Fuji glanced at the female beside him, only to find her face getting increasingly pale as blood drained from her face.

"How… how come you know so much about me?" Her façade of indifference which she always had up with her wavered, and her body trembled as she bit her lips. Her family had always been a sore topic for her, and she had avoided talking about it at cause. No, she wasn't ashamed of the fact that her father had been disowned, but she was terrified of her grandfather, which did his best to control her life at all costs.

"Does the name Masashi Fuji ring any bells?" He enquired.

"Fuji… The founder of Fuji Cooperate?" Her eyes widened as she looked at Fuji.

"Yes, I'm his son. Actually I think I met you once, when we were very young, at a gathering. You were really young then, just like a little princess." He chuckled, paused as though he had something more to add on. "What happened to you? You eyes… they look lifeless."

"I… I had been through a lot." She sighed, figuring out that since he had already seen her so emotionally wrecked, there was no point in acting calm and dignified around him anymore. She would be… herself with him. It felt comforting that the stress and tension built up hiding her past could finally be released, even if it was only for a short moment, to only one person.

"You changed." Was his simple reply to her statement. "But, so did I."

"Everyone changes. I'm not the little girl you knew at the gathering anymore." She shrugged, a humorless laugh escaping from her lips.

"And I'm not the little cute boy you knew at the gathering too." He mused as he tried to lightened the mood, earning himself a smile from her.

"Did you just praised yourself?" She finally laughed before laying on the ground beside him, her hands reaching out towards that sky, her eyes staring at the boundaryless sky.

"I did." He admitted, flipping himself on his side as he toyed with her hair lightly. "But I understand how you feel. The expectations, the stress, what you feel, I feel it too."

"Then… will you listened to me just this once? You don't need to say anything, do anything, just listen." She flipped over to face him, and the two of them laid side by side, their gaze locked upon each other. He gave her a comforting smile, and she relinquished in the warmth she was bathed in, and her barrier, façade was instantly dropped.

And she spoke. She told him how her grandfather had always been a fatherly figure for her, how he taught her the different etiquettes of the high class society, how he had supported her in playing tennis, even though she was the daughter of his disowned son. Whatever had gone through between them had been kept between them. She was the cherished heir, the cherished grandchild of her grandfather. He, though strict, never once forbidded her from playing tennis, and she in return would always behave herself and raised herself to his expectations. She had been sastified, if not happy with what she had, as being able to play tennis meant a lot for her.

Then, everything changed. When the stock market crashed three years ago, everything changed.

"_Grandfather?" She slowly walked to his side, and seeing no response, wrapped her small hands around him, desperately trying to evoke a response or emotions from him. Kazuhiro Echizen looked at her with emotionless eyes, eyes that were devoided of life and feelings as he feebly gave her a smile, then returned into slumping on the table once more. _

She remembered herself calling for him countless times, shaking him, clutching him as she wept furiously, while he remained like a lifeless doll. Her tears, her anguish, her fear, he responded to none.

"_Hey you," a boy sneered, "I heard that your grandfather lost his company. Are you having a great time? Feel what it's like to be poor? Thank goodness I'll never be like you, useless being."_

It hurted. Not because she was poor, but the fact that her grandfather was still wallowing in darkness, refusing to come back to them. And her pride and dignity was crushed. She was just a child then, ignorant, innocent. How could she had possibly been able to prevent the cruel words that came out from the tip of their tongue from crushing her, scarring her and cutting deep into her heart.

She remembered herself curling up and alone, in a dark room with no visible lights, crying to sleep by herself. It represented her plight perfectly, alone, no one possibly understanding her despite the pitying looks and stares the adults gave. She didn't need their pity, what she needed the most was their understanding. But no one did come to understand her, her loss, her yearning for her grandfather to take her in her arms once more.

And one day, she broke.

_As she silenced the hush whispers of the remaining few maids in their ridiculously large house, took the form of the despaired man sitting on the chair, all her emotions fell free. She had had enough. _

"_Wake up and see reality! Did you think that you were the only one that suffered? Open your eyes, see me! See how much I suffered! Don't lock yourself inside you… when I'm the one that suffered the most! Stop dwelling in your own self pity, why don't you… why don't you just get out there and earn more money? Whatever you've lost, earn them back… …" With tears pouring out and flowing down her cheeks, she wailed in anguish. "Don't… leave me… here alone…"_

She had been ruthless, she admitted, but nothing mattered for her anymore in that instant. She had had enough. And that was the day she broke her connections with her grandfather, going back to her parents and left for America to support her father in one of his oncoming opens.

She stopped, staring at the male beside her who had his eyes closed, wondering if he had fallen asleep, with that though dispelled when his eyes flicked open. "What happened then?" He prompted.

She paused, as though afraid with what he might have said, but let out a sigh of relief at his reply.

When she finally mustered her courage to see her grandfather once more, he had already rebuilt his empire, becoming one of the richest person once more. But ironically, he changed, just like she did. He became addicted to work and money, as though they were his only life support, and he became almost… ruthless. He wasn't the grandfather she knew. No, he became obsessed with money, as he worked his tail off earning them.

That wasn't all. She had become another source of getting money for him, she realised. Forcing her to train herself to becoming the heir of the company, she was pushed under the pressures of being talented, as he relentlessly forced her into learning things that were essential for small talks with potential customers or investors. He forbidded her from playing tennis, or even touching the ball and rackets, anouncing that it was degrading and unlady like of her to get sweaty over a sport. No, she was to be trained to become a perfect woman of high calibre.

She had managed to escape from the iron grasp of her grandfather by striking a deal with him. She would continue playing tennis till she graduated from Rikkai, before she immersed herself in trainings into taking over the company. She didn't mind taking over the company, she understood that she didn't want to become a professional tennis player, but it was under the deal that she was not to touch the tennis ball or racket for three years after she graduated. Three long years without tennis, this she could not bear.

"So… This is my third last year playing tennis." She concluded, saddened by the fact once she said it. "I'm pathetic right? No even being able to defend what I really love."

"No… I think you're really brave," Fuji consoled, "You've been taking this by yourself for so long…" He smiled as he gathered her in his arms, gently hugging her, as his hand patted her back in reassurance. "It's okay, you're not alone…"

As her body slowly relaxed in his embrace, he chuckled. "Do you know why I'm known to be sadistic?"

"… No… Why?"

"Because there are times when I can't release the stress from all the expectations of my parents too, and torturing others are a way of releasing them. I can't cry, unlike you, because I don't feel sad… just pressured. That's why I resort to such means to get rid of the tension." Fuji looked down at the lax form of the girl before him, and noted that the rest had yet to come through from Inui's concoction. How long had they been talking, he did not know. But what he did know was the sense of comfort and assurance he had with her, knowing that she was in a similar plight. It made him less lonely, just like he did with her.

"… Do you mind getting your shirt wet?" She enquired, as Fuji's low chuckle could be heard once more.

"No… Go on and cry all you like."

And she cried. Tears of hers which had not been seen since the last time she cried as a child now poured out relentlessly, her fustration, her tension all released within the downpour of tears. How long had she been since she cried. A very long time, she realised, since she even showned her emotions, her uncertainty to someone else. She didn't have many friends, and even if she did, she never told them anything. Friends aren't forever, she bitterly realised. They would come and go, leaving her alone once more when they were gone. If she were to be alone, she would rather not have people coming by her side. Letting go was painful. It was as though giving her a ray of hope, only to crush it instantly when the ray came one.

As if sensing her uncertainty, Fuji hugged her tighter. "It's alright. You're not alone anymore. I'm here, aren't I?"

Those words, words she had always wanted to hear, it brought her great relief, so calming to her nerves that after one last whimper, her whole body went lax as she fell into a deep peaceful slumber that she had not had for a long time, tired by the training and crying.

As Fuji carried her up in his arms, she clutched onto him tighter, as though he was the only thing preventing her from sinking. Smiling lightly, he carried her to sick bay, which he knew by now that there would not be any doctor and laid her gently on the bed. Unclutching her tight grip on him, he placed her hands by her side as he pulled the blankets over her, giving her one last pat on her head before retracing his step back to the tennis courts, where the regulars were slowly getting up and awakening from their false death.

He noticed their captain looking around worriedly for someone and he approached him. "Saa… Tezuka, Echizen felt uncomfortable, so she went to the sick bay to rest."

Tezuka glanced in the direction of the sick bay, furrowed his brows before nodding and proceeded to waking Inui up from his own concoction. Fuji too, gave a lingering look at the sick bay before he caught up with Tezuka.

* * *

Her eyes flickered opened after what seemed like an eternity of good sleep, her brain not quite registering the view of the ceiling above her. It had been a long time since she had slept so well, with no nightmares plaguing her. And it should be creditted to someone who has listened to her story silently and most importantly saying that sentence she had wanted and yearned to hear.

She smiled slightly as she got off the bed, stretched like a cat and gave a yawn, before heading towards the door. She would have to leave the training earlier than expected, given that she had something to do, but she could not possibly just slip off and go. Fuji should have come up with some excuse for her absense, she knew.

Still yawning with tears in her eyes, she slipped into the changing room of the tennis regulars and grabbed her bag, heading towards the tennis courts.

"Kun, I've something on, so I'm going first." She signalled to Tezuka, and upon his arrival, said.

"Need me to bring you home?"

"No need." She almost rolled her eyes at his over protectiveness. Tezuka had always been another fatherly figure of hers, rather than being her cousin. He questioned her safety all the time, created a curfew for her and did a lot of things that only a father would do for her daughter. She giggled lightly as she thought of how he would be around his own daughter next time. Seeing him staring at her, she quickly stiffened her laughter, he eyes scanning through the crowd of people, looking for a certain male.

As if noticing her searching looks, Fuji turned and smiled at her, waving his hands slightly as he completed his rounds. Tezuka frowned at the silent communication between them, wondering what he had missed when his heart stopped beating upon finishing Inui's concoction.

As the regulars slowly gathered around Tezuka and her after completing their rounds, Ryoma contemplated her next move. She wanted to get Fuji's email and phone number, because the next time she was going to let off some steam she knew Fuji would be willing to come to her aid. And then again, he felt like her soulmate, and it would be nice to have a friend to talk to now and then. But she was afraid that Tezuka might not be too please with her getting too close with him. Sighing, she racked her brains for ideas.

When the regulars finally gathered, she passed her phone over to Fuji, calling him to enter his email and contact numbers, earning gasps from the other regulars. She shrugged, giving them a glare each. "You guys too."

After all of them had finished entering their contacts, she flipped her phone shut, slided it into her pockets, and told them that she had to leave. Actually she had nothing on planned this evening, but she suddenly had the urge to go to a place.

Looking back at the regulars who were mostly disappointed for not having been interacting with her just yet, she gave a half-hearted smile and her eyes shifted towards Fuji.

As she finally made her decision she smirked almost evilly, practically glided over to him, pulled on his shirt collar, causing him to lean forward and her lips brushed themselves against his left cheek, before she pulled away a second later. Smirking, she released her hold on him, bidded goodbye to the rest of the astonished regulars as she walked briskly away, leaving Fuji shocked with the sudden act of endearment.

Fuji quickly masked his look of shock, reverting back into the old him with the unwavering smile, as his fingers brushed over the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. The rest of the regulars stared at him with envy, that is, until someone spoke.

"Fuji…" He turned to face a fuming Tezuka, who was glaring at him with a strong killing intent.

"What did you do to her?!"

* * *

I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS, even if I would very much like to.

Credits to DBSK for using their song title as my story title, as well as my sister and friends who have been bugging me to write.

Credits to my brain which came up with this story, and must I credit my hands for typing this too?

All comments are welcome.

_Love, _

_Life-destiny_


	3. Chapter 3: Brothers

_**CHOOSEY LOVER**_

_The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.  
- Natalie Cole_

~CHAPTER 2~ BROTHERS

Yukimura sighed gently, and as he started his way to the tennis courts to start the morning traning, he could help but to let his thoughts wander. Ryoma Echizen. What exactly was her relationship with Tezuka? He had spent the entire night wondering, only to scold himself lightly for letting himself lose sleep over such a trival matter. It couldn't be that Echizen was Tezuka's girlfriend? That very idea had him chucking. They looked more like daughter and father, and if they really were in such a relationship, wouldn't Tezuka be known as a pedophile?

Laughing slightly to himself, he fished out his phone and called Marui's house. Marui had always had a problem with waking up early, so he had taken up the role of calling him on the days they had morning training so that he would be present instead of sleeping in the house. The phone ranged thrice before it was picked up.

"Yukimura, Marui's senior here. Can I trouble you to get Marui to the phone please?" Hearing that it was Marui's mother, he politely asked.

"Marui? Isn't he with you right now? He woke up very early today and started off to school half-an-hour earlier. He should be reaching school right now." Marui's mother pleasantly replied. "My dear son actually woke up by himself without me calling him up! I was wondering if anything was going on in school today…"

Wondering to himself, he thanked Marui's mother and got off the phone. Now this was rare, Marui being early for once. Racking his brains for possible reasons he quickened his pace towards the tennis courts, seaching for a particular tennis regular. He frowned slightly when the above mentioned tennis regular did not appear to be in any of the courts. Meanwhile, Kirihara, Niou, Yanagi and Yagyuu waved at him as they sighted him from the other side of the court.

"Hello." He greeted all them with a smile, chuckling as Kirihara bounded towards him and held onto his arm. "Did any of you see Marui?"

As they shook their heads Yukimura sighed, but he caught a glimpse of a fleeting smirk on Niou's face before it was instantly wiped off, replaced by a look of complete innocence.

He knew better than to argue with Niou, as he would probably fake innocence until his deathbed and decided to let the topic drop when the said subject came running across the tennis courts. Panting slightly, Marui beamed a smile at his tennis captain before excitedly placing a bubblegum into his mouth.

"Done?" Niou asked, smirking.

"Done!" Marui cheerily exclaimed.

The rest of the tennis regulars present exchanged looks with one another, not quite getting what the two of them were talking about. Yukimura sighed softly once more, before waving a hand to get their attention and started the morning training.

* * *

As the bell signaling the end of the school lessons rang, the tennis regulars gathered themselves for another round of their tiring training. It was only when Yanagi announced the time for a short break did they finally managed to sit down and glupped water down their parched throats. A lone figure wearing the male Rikkai uniform appeared standing at the door of the tennis courts, carrying a big box, and was glancing around looking for someone. As his gaze fell upon the bunch of regulars sitting by the benches, he began to make his way hurriedly towards them.

Seeing the male walking across the tennis courts, Yukimura was about to stop him and asked for his intentions when Marui jumped up from the benches and almost pounced on the male.

"Ryoma~~~!" Marui whined, and as he took on the task of glomping the said male before him, he did not fail to notice the box being carried. "Is that cake for me? For me?!"

With a evil smile stretched all across Niou's face, he too approached the person and taking note of Yukimura's shock look, he grinned even wider. "Ryoma, fancy seeing you here."

Upon careful inspection the rest of the regulars realised that the 'male' before them was actually the girl from before, wearing the male uniform. Her hair was also cut to a shoulder length and she let it down instead of securing it in a small ponytail. At a glance she would have passed off as a male, except for the feminine features that graced her face.

Separating herself from Marui, she handed the box of cake over to him as she dusted herself. "Here, there's enough cake for everyone."

Marui's mouth watered as he stared at Ryoma with adoring eyes, earning him a laugh from her as she gently patted his head. Delighted, Marui balanced the box on his arms as he bounded towards the rest of the regulars to share his cake with them. Leaving Niou and Ryoma alone standing slightly before the benches.

"Do they fit?" Niou pointed at the uniform she was wearing.

"Abit loose, but yeah, it's alright. Better than wearing stained uniforms to school." She made a face and Niou laughed, well aware of the sudden increase in temperature behind him.

Yukimura was not very happy. Unhappy would be an understatement to describe his complicated feelings right now. Seeing how the two had addressed her 'Ryoma', it signalled to him them they were really close, but since when? If he had not known wrongly, they were still strangers yesterday, but today she was actually bringing a cake for Marui and having a conversation with Niou! Just what was going on? He demanded for an answer.

Giving her his smile as always, Yukimura faced Niou, who was now smiling pretty sadistically. "Niou, would you care to explain how Marui and you became so close to Echizen-chan?"

Practically all the rest of the regulars were eager to hear their answer, since most of them were curious as well. As Kirihara swallowed his piece of cake, he probed Marui to answer, since the later was too busy stuffing himself with cake.

Pouting, Marui gave the uneaten cake a lingering look as he obediently answered.

* * *

Flashback

Yesterday, after training, Marui and Niou were eating a cake, well, at least Marui was while Niou was just tagging along when two young boys decided to engage in a wrestling contest on the street. It didn't really matter until they crashed on Niou, who stumbled and caught Marui's shirt for support and Marui was pulled backwards while his half-eaten cake was sent on a trip in the air, landing just before a bunch of females who were eating ice-cream, and they shriek as they threw their ice-cream in the air, which landed on a sleeping dog, who promptly woke up really mad and bit a passerby beside it, causing the passerby to howl in pain and fall, pouring his cup of ice-milo onto the unfortunate Ryoma, who was just coming out from the hair salon.

Marui and Niou both got up in time to see Ryoma dripping with cold milo and staring daggers at the mess before her. Her eyes flew over to them, the starters of the entire mess and both of them flinch when she almost hissed. Fearing for their lives, Marui took out his uniform and lent it to the girl so that she could get out of the stained and translucent uniform of hers.

After she changed, they decided to treat her to a meal, since she was still pissed off. So they bought her burgers at a fast-food joint and they managed to have a decent conversation when she finally forgave them. But there was a problem, as Marui's uniform was too baggy for her to wear to school the next day, and she only had a set of uniform, since the rest had yet to arrive. Niou then lightly suggested that Marui would go to her house earlier the next day to pass a set of his own uniform that he could no longer wear. Thus explaining the reason why Marui left home so early.

* * *

Currently

Glancing at his captain, utterly sastified with his explaination, Marui gave a childish grin to Ryoma. "Neh, Ryoma, that's what happened right?"

Ryoma laughed slightly, "Yes, that's right. Good boy!" She had no idea why she was in such a good mood today. Maybe she should have credited it to Fuji for listening to her yesterday, and plus Marui's smile was really infectious. Seeing him smile made her want to smile too.

Meanwhile, unknown to Marui and Ryoma, the rest of the tennis regulars were discussing among themselves.

"Hey, doesn't it seem like Echizen-chan is treating Marui like a pet?" Kirihara announced.

"Sounds like an owner and her dog." Jackal agreed.

"More like a big sister to a younger brother?" Sniggered Yagyuu.

"Marui is acting really babish infront of her." Kirihara stated, while Jackal nodded his head in total agreement.

"96% possibility that Marui looks up to her as a big sister." Yanagi muttered, looking up from his book. "And 99.9% possibility that someone is getting really unhappy."

The regulars, except Kirihara, looked in the direction of their now slightly fuming captain and sighed.

"Your're wrong Yanagi. I'll bet 100% that someone is really pissed off right now." Niou smirked as he pointed towards Ryoma and Marui, "And another 100% that those two will have no idea what made that someone so angry."

And he was right. Marui had no idea why he suddenly had an ominous feeling and it seemed to come from behind him. But that certainly did not stop him from eating his large portion of cake and from staring at Ryoma with adoring eyes. Anyone who brought him cake was deserved to be adored in his opinion.

Niou's grin spread even wider as Marui took Ryoma's hand into his and started waving it up and down, earning even more death glares from their fuming captain. Kirihara obviously could not read the mood in the air, since he was now highly curious as to what Marui and Ryoma was talking about and decided to join them. He gracefully jumped off the bench, landing beside Ryoma.

"Neh, what are you talking about?" Kirihara asked.

"Tennis. Marui was telling me about his tennis skills." Ryoma paused, giving him a smirk. "Kirihara right? How about you? Any good in tennis?"

"Of course!" Kirihara jumped up and down, as he proceed to narrating all his special moves to Ryoma in an animated way, and in the process grabbed the other hand of hers and started waving it around just like what Marui did.

Yukimura decided there and then that it must be stopped. Marui and Kirihara were now acting like some five year old kids talking about their favourite toys, and Ryoma was just smiling, only saying something when they've finished, causing them to launch into another detailed elaboration. And with Marui insistingly calling her 'Ryoma' all the while, which Kirihara later also adopted calling, it was starting to get on his nerves.

"Marui, Kirihara." Yukimura finally called out, "It's not polite to call Echizen-chan Ryoma when you just know each other."

"Eh? But Ryoma doesn't mind right? Right Ryoma? Plus Echizen-chan is so long to pronounce!" Marui whined, and tightened his hold on Ryoma, staring at her with a pair of puppy eyes. Kirihara didn't say anything, but he looked at his shoes in disappointment at the interuption in their conversation.

"I don't really mind." Ryoma stated. "In America my friends used to call me Ryoma too. You guys can call me that." She graced the regulars with her smile. She untangled herslf from the holds of the two males, still quite unused to being held by males, though she had been so immersed in the tennis talk that she had not notice their physical contact.

Facing Yukimura, she suddenly thought of something and went dashing out of the courts only to return a minute later with her tennis bag, smirking slightly.

"You owe me a match." She simply stated.

Yukimura stared at her a moment, still puzzled when he finally remembered that he had promised her a match yesterday. He was about to agree when Kirihara managed to get his say first.

"Neh neh, Ryoma, I want to have a match with you!" Kirihara wailed, he wanted to have a match her at her full strength before she lost to his captain and like most others, she would probably loose herself after the loss. "If you win me then play with captain okay? Please. Pretty pretty please?" He almost begged.

Ryoma gave him a weird look, and deciding that he probably would bug her forever if she didn't play with him first, and so she easily accepted. Anyway, the stronger one can always come later. "Okay…"

Kirihara gave her a very child-like grin as he skipped away to get his rackets. Meanwhile Ryoma easily borrowed Marui's spare tennis shirt and pants, much to the dislike of Yukimura, and went to change and warm up. Niou took out his expansive digital camera to tape Yukimura's face and the rest of the regulars started worrying for Ryoma.

"If Kirihara's eyes get bloodshot…" Jackal fretted. "Wouldn't she be in danger?"

"Most likely the match will end even without Kirihara turning into devil mode." Yanagi calculated.

"Nope." Marui burst his bubblegum, which he had conveniently started chewing, "Ryoma will win~!"

The rest of the regulars looked at him in surprise. Even Niou pulled his eyes away from his camera to look at him.

"What?" Marui asked, "Ryoma is very strong! I've got a feeling that she'll win." He added confidently.

The rest of them could only shake their heads.

* * *

This could not be happening. The rest of the regulars absolutely refused to believe what they were seeing. The female before them had actually managed to last for more than 15 minutes against Kirihara in his normal mode, with a score of 3-2, which Kirihara was leading. Nevertheless, getting two games from Kirihara was hard to do, even when he wasn't in the devil mode, even more so for a girl. Plus Kirihara was definitely not giving her any leeway. He was panting slightly, confused but excited at the female before him. She was definitely strong. And he definitely wanted to beat her. No, not beat her, but crush her. No! His logical mind screamed, he had promised not to go into the devil mode anymore. He didn't want to hurt the people around him, he didn't want to cause them to be unable to play tennis for the rest of their life. This was wrong, he knew, but…

_Crush her._

He couldn't, he screamed within his mind as he felt blood rushing into his eyes. He couldn't.

_Crush her!_

He was starting to lose control of his mind and body. His eyes signalled to Ryoma for her to get away from him before he lost his sanity. He liked her a lot, he didn't want to hurt her. Ryoma didn't even attempt to move from her spot. She smirked.

He lost it. _I. MUST. CRUSH. HER. _

And he threw his sanity out of his mind.

Half-roaring in agony, he lifted his head, allowing her to see his bloodshot eyes. Yes, she would scream, and forever hate him. Somehow, the logical, normal part of him was still there, at the back of his mind. He could see and hear the people around him still, but he couldn't control his body. The part of him wanted to cry at the thought of Ryoma hating him, but he couldn't do anything.

Ryoma didn't react the way he expected. Her eyes widened slightly, surprised, but it did not contain any fear. Instead, she gripped her racket tighter, tensing her body slightly as excitement seeped through her every pores. She gave him another of her smirks. The tiny logical part of him was surprised but glad, but he did not stay glad for long. She would hate him after he hurt her.

He served the knuckle serve, which surprising she returned with much ease, as though she expected it from the very beginning. The rest of the regulars wanted very much to stop the match before she was injured for life, but Yukimura stopped them. He didn't know why, he didn't want her to be hurt either, but something told him that she would probably become the key to sealing Kirihara's devil mode. It was just a gut feeling, but it was so strong, that for once, he chose to believe in it.

Ryoma returned every single ball, panting slightly now that the balls were getting heavier. Somehow Kirihara was stronger in this mode, she mused as she focussed once more on the match. For some reasons the regulars were tensing, and something in her mind rang in alarm for impending danger.

The regulars held their breath as it finally came to the part where Kirihara would smash the ball into the opponent. No one dared to breathe as they watched, in slow motion Kirihara jumping for his smash and Ryoma staring at him from the ground, silently cursing herself for hitting at lob.

The small part of Kirihara was screaming in pain, agony at the female before him. His body did not stop though, and as his racket contacted with the tennis ball he smashed harder than ever into Ryoma.

Eyes widened as the ball came flying towards her at an impossible speed, she did what came to her mind first. The sickening sound of the tennis ball hitting something with great force caused all the regulars to close their eyes, each of them praying for her safety, and inside Kirihara's mind, he was wailing, hating himself for what he had done.

"Che. Mada mada dane." Came the curt response from his opponent. At her voice, all the regulars opened their eyes just in time to see the tennis ball landing at Kirihara's side of the court, bouncing once, twice before it came to a stop.

Ryoma brushed herself as she got up from the ground. Kirihara stared at her in surprise. She smirked. "What's with that look? Did you seriously think you'll beat me with such a move?"

In an instant he turned back to his normal mode and jumping over the net he practically flunk himself onto the unsuspecting Ryoma, throwing both of them onto the ground, with Kirihara clutching onto her with an extremely strong grip. She raised an eyebrow in surprise at the shivering boy in her arms, grabbing her so strongly that it was as though he would never let her go.

"…Kirihara?" She probed herself onto her elbows as she asked and probe the male.

On closer inspection she realised that he was actually sniffling and crying, and she started to panic. "Kirihara, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?"

"…You don't hate me?" Kirihara looked up at her from his hug and asked.

"Hate you? For what?" She was confused.

"For… smashing the ball onto you. Don't hate me, I really didn't want to hurt you, I really didn't!" He wailed as he tightened his grip on her.

"Alright, you didn't want to hurt me and you didn't hurt me. I don't hate you, okay?" She consoled, finally getting some idea as to what caused him to cry and cling on to her for dear life.

"Really? You don't hate me?" With tearful eyes he stared at her with some disbelief written on his face, causing her to laugh slightly.

"Really. Plus you won't hurt me with that." She half smirked and smile as she finally managed to get to her feet, pulling Kirihara up with her. "And stop crying. You look absolutely ridiculous."

"Yes Mistress!" He finally smiled as he did a mock salute, wiping off his tears, which caused the onlooking regulars to heave a sigh of relief. Marui ran towards them and sticked out his tongue at Kirihara, in which Kirihara returned by poking him. Looking at the two older-than-her-but-acting-like-five-year-olds kid before her, Ryoma shook her head, noting that the match was probably going to be called off.

Noting that Yukimura was looking at her, she flashed him a smile as she approached him. "I guess we'll have our match the next time."

"Certainly. Practice's almost over now." Curiousity finally got the better of him. "How did you return the ball?"

All the rest, even including Kirihara and Marui leaned forward to hear her answer.

"The ball was heading towards my left knee, so I switched the racket to my right hand and held the racket over my left knee, with my left hand supporting the tip of the racket. I wasn't expecting the ball to actually be returned. It was just instinctive of me to protect my knee. The ball probably bounced off the tennis racket and somehow made it across the court." She shrugged. "But it won't be luck next time. I'll beat you Kirihara."

"There's not going to be a next time." Kirihara announced, much to the surprise of the regulars. "I'm going to seal my devil mode." He declared with much determination. "I won't let it come out and hurt Ryoma!"

Looking really proud of Kirihara, Yukimura nodded as he smiled at him. Looking at his watch, he dismissed the rest of the tennis players, since practice time was over. Looking for Ryoma, he frowned as he realised that she was nowhere to be found.

Marui helpfully told him that Ryoma had gone to change back into the uniform, and was going to leave due to some appointment later. Yukimura frowned, Ryoma seemed to be avoiding him all the time. Sighing to himself, he walked almost dejectedly away.

Niou laughed, and turned off his camera, extremely pleased with what he had done. Marui and Kirihara went to look for Ryoma. Yanagi scribbled more information into his notebook while the rest glared at Niou for his behaviour.

* * *

As she slipped out of the gates of Rikkai, she sighed at the eventful day. How long were days like this going to last? She had no idea. Her phone starting ringing and she hesitantly picked up the phone. Calls from home usually only meant trouble.

After ten minutes of conversation, Ryoma emerged with her face pale, her eyes voided of any emotions. She suddenly felt very tired, tried of her life. Fustrated, she silently wondered what she was going to do next when Marui and Kirihara caught up to her.

"Ryoma~!" Kirihara chirped, locking arms with her and tugging on her excitedly, not noticing her lack of response. Marui, however, saw the look of distress on her face, and noting from what she was doing just now, he confimed that something had happened, and probably at home. She didn't seem to be very keen to go home at this point of time, he observed, and finally came to the conclusion that she did not want to go home right now.

Pondering for a moment, he grinned and locked arms with her on the other side. "Ryoma, Kirihara, let's go my house to play!"

"Your house?" Both of them grinned, Ryoma, with some sense of relief and Kirihara was cheering.

With that, he dragged both of them to his house.

* * *

His mother was at home, Marui silently cheered as he hustled both of his friends into his house. His mother would be please, since she was always very welcoming of his friends and it was a long time since the last time he brought friends home. Greeting them, his father had a short conversation with Ryoma and pushed them up into Marui's room, closing the door behind him to give them some privacy.

Looking around the small but comfortable room, Ryoma could not help but envy the warmth and care than could be seen and felt from his parents. He may not be as rich, his room not as big, financially less well-off, but he had everything she didn't.

Dinner was funny and light-hearted, and dishes after dishes of well-made home food was served up as she, Marui and Kirihara proceeded to gobbling up most of the food. They were growing and needed a lot of nutrients, they had laughed and fed them even more, as Marui's mother helped her fill her bowls with dishes and rice, while Kirihara entertained them with jokes now and then. It was a fun thing, she realised, so different from what she was used to. Dinner was a time for them to gather and bond at the end of a busy day, they had told her, and Marui's father had patted her head, urging her to eat more.

After dinner they went back to Marui's room, while Kirihara went off with Marui's father to see his garage of cars, a hobby of his dad, Marui had confessed. As they sat in his room in silence, Marui gently hummed a tune, allowing her to gahter her thoughts.

She really, really envied Marui. She was jealous of him and his life. They were total oposites, she mused. She had everything he did not have, and he had everything that she lacked. Somehow, it overwhelmed her, the feelings of love and warmth flooded within her, threatening to spill from her heart.

She didn't notice that she had began to cry. Tears not of anguish nor sadness, but because she was so overwhelmed with feelings that she had be deprived off for so long.

Hugging Marui, she whispered softly in his ears. "Thankyou so much for showing me what family really meant. I'm really envious of you."

Hugging her back, Marui acted like the mature party for once as he gently patted her back softly, all the while rocking her like a child. "Hush, I know, don't cry."

She stayed in his embrace for another minutes before she finally stopped her tears. Slightly embarrassed, she moved out off his arms and gave a small pout. "Hey, aren't you afraid that I may hate you? I'm jealous of you, you know."

"I know. But I also know you aren't the kind to hate people, right?" Marui smiled seriously.

"I don't know. You think it's possible to hate and love someone at the same time?"

"Not likely, I guess."

"Marui Bunta, you're not allowed to laugh or tell anyone that I cried. Or else…"

"Okay, okay, I won't tell." He raised both of his arms up in mock surrender as both of them laughed.

"Hey hey, what's going on?" Kirihara who had just returned planted himself between them, demanding for an answer.

"Hey, let's become sworn brothers!" Marui suggested.

"Sworn brothers?" Both Ryoma and Kirihara asked.

"Yup! Well, sworn brothers and sister in this case. I've heard of how people do it all the time, so why don't we try that too? Then we'll be always very close for the rest of our lives!" Marui seemed excited at that idea and ran out of the room, returning back with a block of bluetack, 3 lollipops, a bottle of coke and three small cups. Sinking himself onto the ground, he started preparing for the 'ceremony' for turning them into sworn brothers and sister.

"Well, first we're supposed to each hold an incense and stick them one by one into a pot of ashes. Bu we don't have incense, so we'll use lollipops and stick them into the bluetack!" Following his instructions, Ryoma was the first to insert the lollipop into the bluetack, followed by Marui then Kirihara.

"Then, we're suppose to each pour a cup of wine and exchange with the others to drink. Coke should do fine for this!" He watched as Ryoma once again poured a cup first, followed by him then Kirihara. Then Ryoma drank the cup Kirihara poured, Marui drank Ryoma's, and Kirihara drank Marui's. The 'ceremony' was done, Marui announced, and he said that according to the traditioin Ryoma would be the eldest, followed by Marui then Kirihara. This was due to the fact that she inserted the incense and poured the wine first sybolised that.

Marui placed the bluetack with their lollipops sticking out of it on his study table and together they grinned. It turned into laughter and soon they were rolling about the ground laughing.

And that was how she, Echizen Ryoma, became sworn 'brothers' with Marui Bunta and Kirihara Akaya, two males with totally different personalities and background.

* * *

I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS, and Coke even if I would very much like to.

Credits to DBSK for using their song title and to all those who have supported me in their reviews ^^

Comments are welcome, and do tell me what you think about this story, as well as how you find it. Compliments will be most welcome, I mean who doesn't welcome them?

Life-destiny

P.S. This chapter is very long with 11 pages, the longest I've written at one go! And I'm really worried, because the response for the second chapter was pretty bland, and I'm wondering if it's because my writing standard is dropping, or is the story not to you liking? I don't mind flames, seriously, just tell me what you think. Or else it'll be had for me to improve my writing as well, right?


End file.
